Ministry of Civil Aviation
CBRN Emergency Management Training held at Kolkata Airport
Kolkata; December, 15, 2020
A three-day basic training in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear  Emergency Management is being conducted by National Disaster Management Authority  here at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata today. It will continue till 17th Dec 2020.
The training programme was inaugurated on by Shri G V V Sarma, Member Secretary NDMA, in the presence of Shri Dushyant Nariala,Principal Secretary, Disaster Management and Civil Defence, West Bengal Government, Shri Kaushik Bhattacharjee, Airport Director, Kolkata, Shri Manoj Gangal,AAI, Regional Executive Director, 
The airport hosted the basic training programme to enhance the preparedness of airport emergency handlers to respond to CBRN emergencies, encompassing threats emanating from the use of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials at the airport.
The training will consist of lectures as well as field training, including live demonstrations of detection and decontamination, including use of personal protective equipment.
Apart from equipping the airport emergency handlers to handle CBRN emergencies, the training programme will also enable them to provide medical first aid and initial psycho-social support. Around 35 personnel will be trained in various aspects of CBRN emergencies.
The welcome speech was given by Shri Kaushik Bhattacharjee where quoting the recent Amphan super cyclone he emphasized how Airports play an important role during disaster management for they are operational 24x7 for transfer of essentials. He said this training programme will further help the participants and the Airport to gear up for such emergency.
Shri Manoj Gangal in his speech revisited the era of World War where the human kind for the first time saw something like a Nuclear explosion. He said with the expansion of technology we should be better prepared for any such exigencies.
Next, Shri Dushyant Nariala said that Disasters at Airport become more complex due to security issues. He said for any kind of disaster preparedness is the key. Giving example of earthquakes and cyclones he added that accidents are sudden but they may be developing for long. He further added that Super Cyclones and COVID is such an example for the challenges which Disaster Management is staring at and setting a new normal for all. Advance preparation is the key and he added that this training will be important for the technical inputs for preparing for CBRN emergencies.
In his key note address Shri G V V Sarma, IAS, Member Secretary, NDMA gave example of the triple disaster that took place in Japan's Fukushima where after hearing the news of nuclear leak many countries recalled their Disaster Management Teams but the performance of India's NDRF team earned them accolades from all around the world. He added the nowadays nature of disaster is becoming 'Low Frequency and High Impact' like COVID19 which doesn't happen frequently but has a high impact on the society. He said whenever a disaster happens the goal should be to minimize the human and economic loss and reduce the disruption time of public services. The preparation for Disaster Management should be holistic involving lectures, mock drills etc for better resilience. Preparedness for Disaster Management is not one person's responsibility. He added that all of us are equally responsible for its management. He said this training programme is a good opportunity to understand the foundation of CBRN emergencies and its management.
Shri D Sundar from NDMA gave an overview of the training programme. Shri S K Mishra, Senior Consultant from NDMA made the participants understand the basics of the training.
The programme ended with a Vote of Thanks by Shri H Pulla, GM , Kolkata Airport.